An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,7
owed it to ourselves to try it before turning her over to Death.
“We cannot stay here much longer,” Anunit said as she took a moment to enjoy the view from Red River Mountain. The crimson stream poked through the rocky top and snaked its way along the jagged ridge before it went deep into the dark emerald woods. By the time it emerged at the bottom, swollen and much wider, the water was crystal clear. “Not that I don’t like this place, but we have work to do.”
“I presume we’re getting started with the trials?” Unending asked.
“Well, you want to get down to business, don’t you?”
“Of course,” she replied.
“What does the first trial entail?” I interjected, eyeing Anunit carefully. I’d known enough people from all walks of life to be able to spot deceit fairly easily. Concerned she might not be telling us the whole truth, I kept a wary eye on her at all times.
Anunit reached out with both hands. “We need physical contact for the journey, as you well know. Come on.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Unending gave me a warm smile, and her voice resounded in my head with nothing but love and appreciation. “I’m glad you’ve got my back in this.”
“The Feoinn Jungle,” Anunit said. “It’s where your first trial begins.”
“What’s there?” I asked.
“Will you just take my hand? I don’t like being in one place for too long, especially since I’m about to break the Reaper laws again for you two.”
We did as she asked. As soon as our hands touched, the world warped around us as though the colors and shapes had been resting atop a still surface of water, and Anunit had put a brush through, swirling and mixing it all together. I felt dizzy for a moment, until everything fell back into place, and we were somewhere else entirely. We were in a different part of Rothko, judging by the alignment of stars in the sky, a corner of this world that seemed forgotten by the Aruni. It looked empty and uninhabited, a wild jungle stretching for thousands of miles, its trees the height of buildings and its waters restless enough to pound the stone that skirted the coastline.
A variety of shades of green unfolded before our eyes—wavy trees as tall as Californian redwoods; sprawling shrubs with huge waxed leaves and brightly colored flowers sticking out in different directions; a moss-like carpet covering the entire jungle floor, with patches of pink and red blossoms here and there; and bright white rocks dotting the ground like nature’s own attempt at landscape gardening.
“This is incredible,” I murmured, trying to take it all in.
Birds sang from the lush crowns, and Rothkian primates swung down from above before jumping from branch to branch to get as far away from us as possible. They couldn’t see us, but they could certainly sense us. I had a feeling I’d see many more the deeper we went in, but for now I needed to know what we were doing here.
“This is the Feoinn Jungle?” I asked, and Anunit nodded once. “What’s the purpose of our visit?”
“Deep in these woods, about a hundred miles northeast, there is an isolated village,” she said, gazing into the distance. “It’s home to creatures that supposedly shouldn’t even exist anymore.”
“What sort of creatures?” Unending asked with a slight frown.
“The Spirit Bender’s kind,” Anunit said, looking at her intently.
I heard my own gasp, yet it sounded like it had come from somebody else. “Wait, what?”
“Soul fae?” Unending asked, her galaxy eyes growing wider.
Anunit nodded again. “If that’s what you call them, sure. Soul fae.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Spirit was the last of the species,” Unending said. “Death told me—”
“Death has been lying.” Anunit cut her off. “A bunch of them survived long after the Spirit Bender’s matrix died. Our maker had them contained and sealed off in this jungle with no contact with the outside world whatsoever. She intervened in the affairs of the universe, which is woefully unethical, of course…”
I shook my head slowly, following Anunit’s gaze into the dark and wooded distance, imagining what that village would look like. The image in my mind’s eye reminded me of the Amazonian jungle and its isolated tribes, and I couldn’t shake it. What would it be like to live somewhere for eons and not even know there were other civilizations beyond my little patch of wildlands?
“They were nearly extinct, don’t get me wrong,” Anunit continued. “You know Rothko’s Hermessi are vicious and unforgiving. But Death